Unusual Mono-Red Tron Deck Makes Surprise Surge in Fast Format!

At this point, it’s been over a month since the recent ban announcements helped the Pioneer, Modern, and Pauper metagames evolve. In Pioneer, Smuggler’s Copter Smuggler’s Copter Flying
Whenever this Vehicle attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) has made a significant impact, being utilized in a multitude of ways. Meanwhile, in Modern, the banning of Fury Fury Double strike
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Evoke—Exile a red card from your hand. helped open the door for some Creature-based strategies like Prowess and Merfolk to gain a bit of ground.

Curiously, despite Fury getting the axe, Rakdos Scam in Modern is still a dominant archetype. Ultimately, play patterns involving Grief Grief Menace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand. and Not Dead After All Not Dead After All Until end of turn, target creature you control gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control, then create a Wicked Role token attached to it." (Enchanted creature gets +1/+1. When this token is put into a graveyard, each opponent loses 1 life.) are not ideal, and many players were hopeful that the bans would have done more to shake up the metagame. Pauper seems to be in a very similar situation. The hope was that the banning of Monastery Swiftspear Monastery Swiftspear Haste
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.) would accomplish two key goals: to weaken aggressive mono-red decks and reduce the overall speed of the format.

Unfortunately, not only is mono-red still a dominant strategy thanks to recent additions like Goblin Tomb Raider Goblin Tomb Raider As long as you control an artifact, this creature gets +1/+0 and has haste. , but the format is still incredibly fast. Beyond just mono-red, All that Glitters All that Glitters Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact and/or enchantment you control. and Tolarian Terror Tolarian Terror This spell costs {1} less to cast for each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard.
Ward {2} (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays {2}.) provide massive power boosts to the board for cheap. Slower decks like the multi-color Tron variants have greatly decreased in popularity as a result.

Interestingly, though, a new Tron variant appears to be emerging that may help solve some of the problems this type of strategy has struggled with in the past. As a mono-red Tron deck, this archetype makes use of excellent removal to help stabilize the board and take over the game with a large mana advantage. There’s a lot going on here, so we’re going to start by talking about the deck’s main game plan.

Slow and Steady

The goal of this deck is to keep the opponent off-balance with removal long enough to start slamming haymakers. This is where the Tron mana base comes into play. By assembling the combination of Urza’s Tower Urza’s Tower {T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Power-Plant, add {C}{C}{C} instead. , Urza’s Power Plant Urza’s Power Plant {T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Tower, add {C}{C} instead. , and Urza’s Mine Urza’s Mine {T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Power-Plant and an Urza's Tower, add {C}{C} instead. , you get a huge burst of mana that you can use to cast your big spells or cast multiple spells at a time.

Unlike traditional Tron variants like you may see in Modern, though, this version of the deck doesn’t need to assemble all three Tron Lands extremely early to have success. Without access to cards like Sylvan Scrying Sylvan Scrying Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. that can help set up Tron as well as game-breaking colorless payoffs like Karn, the Great Creator Karn, the Great Creator Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand. , getting all three Tron Lands in play may take some time.

Instead, this strategy plays quite similarly to a control deck. You can use removal and board wipes to keep the battlefield clear, then land a threat like Crimson Fleet Commodore Crimson Fleet Commodore Trample
When this creature enters, you become the monarch. to generate a flow of card advantage in your favor. Cards like Expedition Map Expedition Map {2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. and Candy Trail Candy Trail When this artifact enters, scry 2.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life and draw a card. can help dig for your Tron Lands when necessary, but getting extra mana can take some time.

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Win Conditions

Once you do manage to get the requisite Tron Lands together, though, the world is your oyster. Casting haymakers like Boarding Party Boarding Party Haste
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.) becomes rather trivial. Self-Assembler Self-Assembler When this creature enters, you may search your library for an Assembly-Worker creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. becomes an excellent Creature to have access to since you can flood the board with 4/4s. Alongside this, Oliphaunt Oliphaunt Trample
Whenever this creature attacks, another target creature you control gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
Mountaincycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.) works double duty, keeping your Land drops flowing in the early game while acting as a large threat in the late game.

The best payoff for being specifically in mono-red Tron, though, is definitely Rolling Thunder Rolling Thunder Rolling Thunder deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of targets. . Even with Prophetic Prism Prophetic Prism When this artifact enters, draw a card.
{1}, {T}: Add one mana of any color. banned in Pauper, this version of Tron can easily and reliably obtain the two red mana necessary to cast this devastating spell. With access to Tron, Rolling Thunder can be used to either keep the opponent’s board clear or as a method of closing the game by simply dealing a ton of damage to the opponent.

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Keeping up in a Fast Format

This variant of Tron may seem a bit strange, but in the context of Pauper in its current state, it seems like a reasonable meta-call. The reality is, that you can’t spend much time developing your mana without impacting the board directly. Otherwise, mono-red and Affinity decks will run you over. This is where the idea of staying mono-red comes into play.

Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target. is a phenomenal removal spell that can deal with opposing copies of Goblin Tomb Raider Goblin Tomb Raider As long as you control an artifact, this creature gets +1/+0 and has haste. or Ardent Recruit Ardent Recruit Metalcraft — This creature gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts. . Meanwhile, a full playset of Breath Weapon Breath Weapon Breath Weapon deals 2 damage to each non-Dragon creature. can make sure you don’t get punked out by an early Kuldotha Rebirth Kuldotha Rebirth As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact.
Create three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens. or a bunch of copies of Frogmite Frogmite Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.) .

Filigree Familiar Filigree Familiar When this creature enters, you gain 2 life.
When this creature dies, draw a card. provides an extra life buffer that can be cast off of colorless mana alone. After sideboarding, there are a range of helpful tools to add depending on the matchup. This includes using Pyrite Spellbomb Pyrite Spellbomb {R}, Sacrifice this artifact: It deals 2 damage to any target.
{1}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card. as an answer to Crimson Acolyte Crimson Acolyte Protection from red
{W}: Target creature gains protection from red until end of turn. and Pyroblast Pyroblast Choose one —
• Counter target spell if it's blue.
• Destroy target permanent if it's blue. to help force your win conditions through against counter magic.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

As previously iterated, this version of Tron does a much better job against hyper-aggressive strategies. The gameplan of removing the opponent’s Creatures and slamming haymakers that can win the game on their own is quite reasonable. Where things can get a bit awkward, though, is against decks with both counter magic and pressure.

First of all, you have a lot of mostly dead cards against the Tolariant Terror decks, as both Breath Weapon and Volcanic Spite Volcanic Spite Volcanic Spite deals 3 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or battle. You may put a card from your hand on the bottom of your library. If you do, draw a card. are useless against Tolarian Terror, , and Gurmag Angler. On top of that, even if you assemble Tron quickly, actually getting Self-Assembler or Oliphaunt to stick against a deck with Counterspell Counterspell Counter target spell. and Snuff Out Snuff Out If you control a Swamp, you may pay 4 life rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated. at the ready can be very difficult.

Additionally, much like other Tron decks, you are quite vulnerable to Land destruction spells like Thermokarst Thermokarst Destroy target land. If that land was a snow land, you gain 1 life. out of Ponza-style decks. Fortunately, those archetypes have greatly diminished over time, but by contrast, Tolarian Terror decks are very popular.

As such, this deck in its current form seems like it has some rather polarizing matchups. It’s unlikely that it will break out and become a tier-one archetype in the near future as a result. Still, it showcases innovation in a format that has been rather stale overall, even despite the recent bans. If you enjoy Tron strategies but are tired of getting bullied by mono-red, consider giving this deck a shot.

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